Chapter 3

The humidifier in the study breathed out a steady stream of white mist, filling the air with sandalwood and the bitterness of medicine. Every breath scoured my lungs like fine sandpaper.

My father sat behind his massive mahogany desk. In just a few days, the gray at his temples had spread like weeds.

On the screen before him, the stock chart had taken a nosedive, plunging like a kite with its string cut into a sea of sickly green. He stared at it, his breathing ragged and loud in the silence of the room.

"Dad. This is the acquisition proposal…